Into Eternity are a blatant aberration within both death metal and progressive outfits, exhibiting all of the technical mastery of the latter and the aggression of the former, yet coming off so radically different than anything else existing in either medium to be a dominant force in either area. You won’t catch most Dream Theater fans consuming their brand of genre mixing due to its agitated nature and overt catchiness. Likewise, most Gothenburg oriented or tech. death fanatics won’t really grab onto this unless they are okay with large amount of Rob Halford and Freddy Mercury vocal influences mixed in with the usual mix of guttural and garbled growls associated with the heavier ends of extreme metal.
This is the sort of band that embraces a healthy amount of cliché, albeit through a modernized sound that is more conducive to younger audiences, yet can’t quite fit into the mold of being either a hipster flirtation with older metal, or yet another attempt at being a retro act. Every section within every song has a clear genre influence, be it a traditional one or a hybrid progressive one, but entire songs draws a picture of a free spirit mingling from one idea to the next in a very flexible manner. The only way to really categorize this group is as “different”, in the broadest sense possible within the bounds of metal genres, in spite of the fact that the band successfully maintains an aroma of consistency from one album to the next.
Within the bands growing catalog, “The Incurable Tragedy” stands as one of the most musically ironic offerings to be put out. Despite all of the dark and somber lyrical content of a terminally ill man, which was inspired by a series of similar situations witnessed by guitarist and songwriter Tim Roth in his personal life, this album listens like a angst driven hybrid of Judas Priest and newer Nevermore. Although some might attribute this description to the previous album, on here these elements are exaggerated to the point that vocally, at times, it is difficult to attach the melodic death label to it. Particularly noteworthy is the pummeling speed bruiser “Tides Of Blood” and the somewhat groovier but vocally busy “Indignation”. It is difficult to ascertain just how many blood vessels ruptured in Stu Block’s head while producing these high notes, but it probably would have been enough to induce a stutter in most ordinary human beings.
But withal the vocal gymnastics and the really busy riffing and stylistic shifts, one constant quirk that pervades this entire album is the band’s stubborn commitment to keeping things catchy. Along with the two previously mentioned songs, pretty much every non-interlude found on this concept album possesses a magnificent chorus section that commands instant recognition, almost like an artificially induced déjà vu. Anyone who has heard “The Scattering Of Ashes” will catch themselves scanning through that album again to find out where the band lifted those strangely familiar fanfare sections heard on “Time Immemorial” and “Diagnosis Terminal”, despite the fact that no self-plagiarism has occurred here. Perhaps the only exception to this rule is “A Black Light Ending”, where the band fully embraces the Nevermore tendencies and essentially plows through a freeform though highly melodic variant on those chunky, groove-happy, vocally all over the place songs heard on “This Godless Endeavor”.
The one weak link in this otherwise highly enjoyable chain of melodic crushers is the overall pacing of the album, which goes through its own variant on the same issue that plagued Manowar’s “Gods Of War”. Although not overtly offensive, the band’s constant referencing of Fates Warning’s brand of acoustic interludes and gloomy symphonic sections drags down a really hard edged mixture of old school meets extreme metal. Literally in the midst of a solid series of head smashing goodness the band’s somewhat introspective sense of progressive balladry in “The Incurable Tragedy” title song in 3 parts puts the brakes on everything. Individually, these 2 minutes or so intercessions are well accomplished, but when treating this as a concept album and listening to it from beginning to end, it seems a bit unnecessary.
In terms of past efforts, this is a worthy release that should probably keep the band’s established audience pleased. It has less of a pop-like nature to it than “The Scattering Of Ashes”, and Stu Block is definitely exploiting his phenomenal vocal abilities a lot more, but it doesn’t quite have the same somber charm to it musically that “Buried In Oblivion” did. It gets trashed primarily for being musically in the melodic death realm, though not conforming to it vocally, as well as for incorporating a power metal-like nature to its choruses, but it is still a safe bet that most who liked the previous album will like this one, regardless of the noticeable development in style present here.
Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on July 29, 2010.
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